AgQuip sets new date

Australia's largest agricultural field days will still run in 2020, with news AgQuip organisers have postponed the event until November due to the pandemic.

Event organiser, ACM rural events group manager Kate Nugent said she hoped AgQuip would be bigger and better than ever, with plans to run two new expo events concurrent to the field days.

"We are taking the opportunity to launch our AgriTech Expo, which will run within AgQuip," she said.

"There will also be a four-wheel-drive and camping expo staged alongside the field days, which is really exciting."

Ms Nugent said AgQuip would still run a full three-day program, maintaining the same focus on agricultural technology and rural support that has drawn patrons from across Australia over its 48 year history.

"AgQuip draws in farmers from across Australia, and with many areas receiving a fantastic start to the year we couldn't ignore the demand for the event," she said.

"Despite the virus, we have solid inquiries from over 100 new agri-companies and will be closely monitoring how commercial sites are allocated in a fair and equitable way, to both new and existing clients."

Ms Nugent said keeping customers and exhibitors safe was a high priority, with the events team planning a number of social distancing measures to reduce risk.

"So we're going to try to work through this to make it happen," she said.

"Farmers who hadn't produced a crop for many seasons are anticipating excellent harvests.

"With pastures and flocks thriving too, people on the land are being offered the opportunity of replacing and updating equipment, in a way they haven't dared to consider for some time.

"There's an easy road and the easy road is to cancel, but we are absolutely committed, AgQuip is very important for our regional and rural communities."

Ms Nugent said AgQuip usually draws an average crowd in excess of 100,000 to the town of Gunnedah NSW over the three days, boosting the local and regional economy significantly.

"AgQuip will be held from November 10 to 12, while people may be harvesting, we believe we will still see a large crowd," she said.